[ravenstine]

> Here is another, but related question: why don't long time employees look for a better paying opportunity?

The devil you know is often better than the devil you don't know.

Why risk ending up with a bad employer for more pay if you can already coast at an OK employer for good enough pay?

I see it much like that Treehouse Of Horror episode of The Simpsons where Homer time travels to the past and finally comes back to the present to discover that everything is the same except everyone now has a long tongue they eat with; after all the things he went through earlier, his response is "Eh... close enough."